“You’re right about us being on the clock. You’re just as right about me not being fair.” He stepped in closer. “But understand this, Grace Cooper. I want you. I’ve wanted you for years, and now that I’ve had a taste of you, settling for being near you isn’t enough. Not even remotely. Lunch wasn’t enough. Dinner won’t be enough. I want more than you do, clearly, so my job is to change your mind. Don’t expect me to lie around and wait for you to get on board with the idea because we’re on a tight timeline. I’ll push at and irritate you, no doubt. But in the end?” He curled a finger under her chin and lifted. “You make me lose my mind in the best possible way. I’m not willing to give that up over a little difference of opinion. You...this thing between us...it’s all worth the fight, Grace. As for my ethics? I know what just happened between us, and it was, is, bigger than words on paper. Nothing that happens will change my opinion.”
Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly. “We’re technically working together, no matter how short an assignment this is. You can’t act on every impulse you have.”
He planted his fists on his hips and closed his eyes for a second, focusing on slowing his breathing and regaining control of the moment. “You’re right. We’re on the clock. If you want to report me for sexual harassment, I won’t contest your claim.”
“What?” she exclaimed. “No. I just want you to think. Think, Justin. And honor what you said you’d do.”
“I never promised anything.”
“You said lunch, as colleagues.” The accusation was small, lacking the force of conviction he would have expected.
“And you’re the one who said there was nothing between us.”
“There isn’t anything between us. When this internship is over, I’m moving to Baltimore. Permanently. I can’t afford to get hung up wondering if this thing between us meant anything, Justin. The only way I can be happy is with a clean break, so this has to stop. You have to stop.”
He made a show of smoothing his jacket down, fighting to keep his hands steady at her talk of leaving. “That’s where you’re wrong. I don’t have to accept your word as final on the matter. See, unless I’m mistaken, that was a pretty damn passionate kiss. Should I assume you treat every guy to that particular pleasure?”
“You know I don’t!” She shoved her hair off her face and gazed down the street with clear desperation. “Bus is almost here.”
“This isn’t finished, Grace.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath that strained her breasts against the buttons of her shirt. “It’s over, Justin. Whatever you believe is happening between us? You’re wrong.”
She angled her body to step into the bus before the doors were completely open.
He watched her move to the rear of the vehicle and take the only available seat. That was fine. He’d have given it to her, anyway. What he wouldn’t give her was the satisfaction of hearing him say this was over. It wasn’t. Not by a long shot.
He couldn’t afford to lose his job and he wasn’t going to cost her hers, but he’d never felt this way about any other woman. Two weeks from now she was moving to Baltimore. That meant he had a finite window of time to change her mind. He had to take the risks, ethics be damned. Granted, he did his best in life to take the high road when he could. But when the desired result couldn’t be achieved by following a predetermined route, well, sometimes it meant taking risks and traveling more—even highly—questionable roads to get to where you most needed to be in the end. And in a weird way, the people at Second Chances would probably understand that better than most.